City of Oaks Funeral Home & Cremation

Obituary
Barbara Jean Brunner

Raleigh, North Carolina

Age 78.
Died 12/04/2023.

Barbara Jean Brunner
Barbara Jean Brunner was born on May 15, 1945 in Durham, NC and passed away on December 4, 2024 in Raleigh, NC. Barbara was raised in Roanoke Rapids, NC by her grandmother for the first ten years of her life and then moved to Richmond, VA to live with her mother. She married young and quickly had four children whom she loved fiercely but struggled to financially support. When her marriage ended shortly after the birth of her fourth child, and with only a small amount of monthly child support, she got a job as a secretary at the MCV School of Dentistry and did the best she could working fulltime to raise her family. Over the years Barbara endured the unimaginable helplessness of losing her second born daughter to domestic violence and the agonizing stress of having her firstborn struggle with substance abuse.

While Barbara's professional career was spent as secretary to the head of the dental school, most of her personal life was spent being a full time caregiver for the people who needed her most. In her middle age she stepped up to finish raising three of her grandchildren. She attended her share of choral performances and baseball games while also keeping pace with the ever expanding challenges of raising a family and navigating public education.

She retired early to move back to NC when her last grandchild was born to her youngest daughter. It was in Raleigh where she found rest and tranquility with a tight circle of friends and family and from within a safe community.

Barbara loved to cook, had a wide ranging taste in music, enjoyed thrifting and a good cup of coffee. She conversed heart-to-heart, so if you were avoiding your truth, she was not the person to ask. She held people to standards, empowering them to see the merciful differences between right and wrong. She was loyal, and quick to send a greeting card when you needed it most, and entertained her friends with a quick, sardonic wit.

It was the last few years that she lived her best life.
She built a whole new life in Raleigh being the best grandmother and mother anyone could ask for. While the first half of her life was a struggle, her time in Raleigh was filled with the joy of her last grandchild and the apple of her eye.

She was preceded in death by two daughters, Robin Amadeo and Lannie Schultz and survived by two children, Joseph Brunner and Tammy Brunner. She had four cherished grandchildren, Joshua Schultz, Demi Schultz, Joseph Amadeo and Benjamin Lane and two great grandchildren Jackson and Chayce Schultz.

Her absence will be felt by many.

For additional information or for service details, please reach out to the family directly.


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City of Oaks Cremation and Funeral Home is a full-service funeral home in Raleigh, serving all of North Carolina and beyond. We provide an alternative to costly funeral homes and every day we help families in Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill and all over North Carolina make simple, affordable funeral arrangements.

Simply having to reach out to a funeral home can feel overwhelming. Our goal is to simplify the entire funeral home experience and make the process as easy as possible. We hope to eliminate any unnecessary surprises by publishing our total cost and the services we provide directly on our website. All of our obituaries are provided free of charge as a way to help families celebrate and commemorate the lives of their loved ones.

Our Promise

Apples to Apples

Just like all other licensed funeral homes in North Carolina, City of Oaks Cremation, LLC is regulated by the NC Board of Funeral Service.


The same laws that apply to the big corporate funeral homes also apply to the modest independently owned firms like ours. All crematories in North Carolina, regardless of who owns them, are inspected annually by the state and must adhere to the same rules and laws.

Genuine Care

We're committed to providing families within our community unsurpassed service before, during and after the time of loss.


Our staff will provide clear communication to your family through each step as we move forward from the original phone call notifying us of a death to the time we deliver the urn back to your family. We will treat your family with the utmost respect, as we honor the wishes of your loved one.


We promise to make this process affordable and as endurable as possible.

State Wide

Our Funeral Home is located in Wake County NC; however, we provide our services to families throughout the entire State.


Unlike other funeral homes, we don't charge an additional mileage fee. Regardless of what county you live in, we can help your family with making simple, affordable funeral arrangements. From Asheville to Wilmington, we're proud to help families statewide.

Our Services

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Direct Cremation

$1196.75

Nobody likes surprise costs added in at the last minute. We guarantee you will not find any hidden charges here. We include everything you need for a simple or direct cremation. Simple, affordable and reliable. We have not changed the cost of our direct cremation service since we opened City of Oaks in 2012.

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Cremation with Solidified Remains

$2875.66

We offer the option of choosing how you receive your loved ones remains. Selecting our Direct Cremation with Solidified Remains option is a beautiful way to transform cremated remains into 40-60 “stones” that you can hold.

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Cremation with Visitation

$1917.84

City of Oaks Funeral Home and Cremation provides an affordable cremation option with onsite visitation. Nobody likes surprise costs added in at the last minute. We guarantee you will not find any hidden charges here. Simple, affordable and reliable.

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Immediate Burial

$2497.50

An immediate burial has the same end result as a traditional burial; however, we have eliminated the extra (sometimes unnecessary) services prior to getting to the cemetery. Not everyone wants an open casket for viewing or a limousine for the family. Despite the term immediate, we can move as fast as you need or as slow as you like. This option simply allows you to save money by eliminating some of the fancy extras at the funeral home.

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Green Burial

$3033.75

This establishment is one of a select number of funeral homes who meet the criteria for providing green funeral service by the Green Burial Council; a tax-exempt, nonprofit organization working to encourage environmentally sustainability in the field of funeral service. Our Green options allow for a funeral to take place without the use of toxic and non-biodegradable materials/chemicals.

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Traditional Funeral

$6081.48

We offer the same traditional funeral services as the big corporately owned funeral homes in the area; however, we cost about half the amount. You might consider a traditional funeral service if your family is looking for an open casket visitation, a traditional church service or a funeral service in the funeral home's chapel. A traditional funeral service can be altered to fit the needs of your family.

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Aquamation

$2640.59

As an alternative to traditional cremation, City of Oaks Funeral Home also offers Aquamation. The Aquamation process, often referred to as alkaline hydrolysis, uses a solution of water and potassium hydroxide to facilitate natural decomposition.

City of Oaks Funeral Home & Cremations